The present invention relates to electrically conductive film used to coat electroluminescent displays.
Electroluminescent lamps comprising a transparent conductive base are known in the art. In general, a thin polyester film with an indium-tin oxide (ITO) coating has most often been used for this purpose. These ITO films are manufactured by vacuum sputtering techniques. Screen printing the conductive paste is another method of manufacturing the films.
More recently, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate), sometimes abbreviated PEDT/PPS or PEDOT (manufactured and sold under the trade name Orgacon(copyright) by AGFA Gevaert) has been found to be a desirable material for use as a transparent conductive base for electroluminescent lamps. Unlike ITO film, which is easily damaged because the inorganic material is very brittle, the PEDOT polymer transparent conductive coating on a polyester film can be stretched, folded and can tolerate surface damaging before the surface conductivity is affected. For these reasons, PEDOT film is better than ITO in less delicate manufacturing processes such as industrial screen-printing. It is known that the electrical conductivity of PEDOT film can be deactivated in areas where the surface is xe2x80x9cpaintedxe2x80x9d with solvent such as 10% NaCIO bleach. It would be desirable to find a way to deactivate very specific points on the PEDOT film surface in a predictable, repeatable manner.
The present invention relates to a method of patterning an electroluminescent light, comprising the steps of:
printing ink patterns onto an electrically conductive polymer film layer of the electroluminescent light, the electrical conductivity of the film being significantly deactivated where the ink patterns are printed;
conducting voltage through the electroluminescent light to display the patterns formed where the ink patterns deactivate the electrical conductivity on the polymer film layer.
The present invention also relates to an electroluminescent light panel comprising an electrically conductive polymer film layer printed with ink patterns, the electrical conductivity of the film being significantly deactivated where the ink patterns are printed.
The present invention additionally relates to a method of making an electroplated film, comprising the steps of:
printing ink patterns onto an electrically conductive polymer layer web, the electrical conductivity of the film being significantly deactivated where the ink patterns are printed;
plating the printed web to form electrical interconnects by depositing conductive metals.
The present invention further relates to an electroplated film comprising an electrically conductive polymer film layer printed with ink patterns, the electrical conductivity of the film being significantly deactivated where the ink patterns are printed; and electrical interconnects formed on the polymer film layer by deposited conductive metals.